PARIS—
General Electric Co.
GE -0.80%
received a binding offer from private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management L.P. for its French consumer-credit unit,
GE Money Bank,
CMBN 1.06%
the latest step in the industrial group’s exit from the finance sector.

The sale would represent ending net investment equivalent to around $4.6 billion at March 31, GE said. The operation will exclude the unit’s $2 billion mortgage-loan portfolio, which will be sold separately, the company said.

Provided it is approved by regulators, the transaction would be completed during the fourth quarter, GE said.

The sale is part of the company’s broader strategy to drastically reduce its financial services activities to focus on its industrial businesses which it considers can bring more value. GE announced in April last year that it would sell off most of GE Capital, what was then its $500 billion lending business.

Including this transaction, GE Capital has closed deals worth about $156 billion since last April, GE said.

Private-equity firms such as Cerberus have been significant investors in Europe’s banking sector in recent years, often picking up portfolios of bad loans from European banks eager to shore up their balance sheets.